Old Polar

Disclaimer:  I consider myself a writer who takes photographs, not a photographer who writes.  I have no particular insight or expertise regarding photography other than what I have learned through trial and error or from online tutorials. 

Disclaimers aside, I am really digging a particular preset in my Adobe Lightroom photo editing software.  I really have not dabbled in the world of presets in the way of buying them from professionals or saving my own.  I just use what's already over there in my left-side toolbar.  And today, while screwing around on some photos for my 365 Project , I discovered a very nifty little preset called Old Polar and I can't believe we haven't met before and already fallen in love and moved to the suburbs together in my minivan.  I like it that much.  It's different without being crazy.  Colorful without being too alien.  A little retro.  I'm digging it.

These photos were a little overexposed so it was great to find a preset that embraced my manual ineptitude and made it look like I did that on purpose.  I mean, I totally did that on purpose, with this exact preset in mind.  Riiiiiight.

 I like how it makes their eyes and mouths pop, especially Em's because I think they're her best features.  And both  my kids have wicked eyelashes so the fact that the clarity was bumped up to +85 or so never hurts, either.

Awwww, impromptu snuggle.  They do love each other!

I know I need to branch out photographically, and presets would be a great place to start, since they give your photos a whole new look with minimal effort on the editing side.  I'm always looking for a shortcut.

They are still a bit grainy, which annoys me, but there's not much I can do about that other than get better at noise reduction (feel free to give me some tips!) and wait until we can get outside to shoot in natural light.  This was a natural and artificial light combo shoot, and I can tell when I was using natural light and when I wasn't.

Like this one:

Grainy but hilarious.  I pumped up the Luminance to +100 and I think it makes him look a little bit too surreal, but I'm just learning.  Like I said, writer who takes photos; not the other way around.

It even works on action shots, like Jax's KO punch to Em's face.

Oh, impromptu snuggles don't last long.

So, photographers extraordinaire, what Lightroom Presets do you use and love?  Keep in mind my style of photos, if you will.  If you're persuasive enough, I might just go buy one!

Sidenote:  Ironically, after writing this, I went to Willette's website (the photographer who created the Joy of Luck and Joy of Love photo tutorials I participated in lately) and she had 6 free Lightroom presets available for download!  You have to go to her facebook page and "like" her and then you can download them for free!  I haven't played with them yet, but it's a step in the right direction!